Published by : Head of Zeus
01 April 2016
Copy : Hardback - Reviewer purchase
The Blurb
In the early years, she was happy. Romilly had worked hard for her stunning, modern house in one of Bristol's most fashionable suburbs. She adored her gorgeous, gap-toothed daughter and her kind and handsome husband. Sure, life was sometimes exhausting - but nothing that a large glass of wine at the end of the day couldn't fix. But then, as deep-buried insecurities surfaced, everything started to unravel. A glass of wine became a bottle; one bottle became two. Once, Romilly's family were everything to her. Now, after years of hiding the drinking, she must finally admit that she has found another love...
The Very Pink Notebook Review
Amanda's statement 'I write stories for women about women.' was what first drew me to her books. I am yet to be disappointed in reading one of her novels because that statement could not be more true. Whenever a new Amanda Prowse book comes out I can not wait to find out what thread the story is going to weave around, but one thing is always guaranteed; it is going to be emotional. Another Love is no different.
Focusing on the world of Romilly, her husband David and daughter Celeste I immediately loved this family. Amanda has created a family we all know, they are in love, they work hard in their professional careers to provide a beautiful home and a stable life to their much loved child, daughter Celeste. But, as with most relationships, you never know what really goes on behind closed doors.
Romilly has an addiction, one that waggles itself underneath the noses of so many on a daily basis but that they control. But for Romilly that addiction slowly turns itself into an illness, it snakes inside of her and takes hold so tightly she gives herself up to it - Romilly is an alcoholic.
This novel takes us through the torrent of emotions of being an alcoholic, via Romilly's narration and also on the flip side through what it is like for those who find themselves living in a home with someone who has an addiction - in this case via daughter Celeste. I loved the chapters being written from the two viewpoints, even though sometimes it did leave me quite emotionally drained.
It was quite alarming, how Romilly's addiction grew from simple and to be honest quite, run of the mill, random binge drink sessions in University (I think the majority of drinkers have all done that in the past), to the glass of wine looked forward to at the end of the work day with dinner. How quickly the glass turned to half a bottle and then a bottle. How the drink with dinner turned into a little afternoon tipple. I felt sad at those people in Romilly's life who thought it was all fun and games to encourage her to drink, really for their own amusement - whether they realised or not they were pushing her further into alcoholism I am not sure.
I didn't know how far into this illness Romilly would find herself, but Amanda has not held back and we are taken as far as we can go, I am sure all screaming for her to stop in our head, but knowing and understanding that she will not. I like that Amanda did not do it by halves, it made it feel all the more real, which is one of this authors real talents as a writer, she is not afraid, she does not hold back. The characters are flawed and those flaws are the basis for her brilliant novels.
I liked that the alcoholic in this novel was Romilly and not David. It would have been easy to have made the female the one left picking up the pieces, fighting to keep the family together, to keep her daughter shielded. It was - I think - a fresh take, a more unique story this way. Another Love is a perfect title for this novel.
As a big fan of Amanda Prowse and her work I am always a little tentative when starting a new novel, hoping it will be as good as previous. There was no disappointment with this book.
Another Love gets a Very Pink Notebook rating of :
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